Enemy Bonding
by GaleLuver27
Summary: Katniss and Peeta have just gotten back from the Hunger Games, and Peeta realizes that he has to talk to Gale about Katniss. They have a "bonding moment" where they learn a lot more about each other! NOT a bromance, just a long deep talk! ;) also, this will probably be a one shot unless, I get some enormous amount of inspiration!


**Alright guys as most of you probably know, I am a writer who generally writes Gale and Katniss romance stories. But recently, I was dared to write a FanFic that was NOT romance! I was like OH MY GOSH! How could someone even say that right? But I am not someone to pass up a dare so here goes a Peeta and Gale friendship one shot(**_**NOT**_** A BROMANCE), it takes place after Peeta and Katniss get back from the Hunger Games. Peeta confronts Gale and they have a bonding moment. There will most likely not be a sequel…unless a lot of people are giving me reviews and begging for a sequel but I'm really not sure what to expect so just review and help me out! Well, here goes nothing…**

Peeta's POV

Riding the train home was torture. I should have been excited to see my friends, my family, to be bathed in riches. I was a victor. I was supposed to get everything I wanted. But instead, when I feel like Katniss and I can finally have the happily ever after we deserve, I learn that she was faking her love the whole time, just to get sponsors. I am hurt. I truly thought she loved me. She risked her life multiple times to save me, but Haymitch told me it was probably because she would feel guilt if I died and she went home. Even though I truly believed she loved me, I always knew there was someone else. Gale Hawthorne. I always knew the two of them had something special. I always knew he was in love with her. But Katniss is oblivious. I mean every day before they went their separate ways at school, Gale would always hug her and I could tell that he never wanted to let go. Or the way he would brush his hand against hers. Katniss of course didn't notice, she never has. But, if she ever wanted to get married and if it ever came between a choice of me and Gale, Katniss would waste no time choosing Gale.

When we finally got to District 12, it confirmed everything I was thinking. As soon as Katniss had hugged and talked to her mother and Prim, she ran up to Gale and hugged him. Once she laid eyes on him, he was all that mattered to her anymore. He twirled her around in a circle. She was giggling like a little school girl. It made me sick. And then I noticed Gale glaring at me. Glaring at me with his famous 'Gale Hawthorne Glare'. I knew I would be getting beaten up soon. His face said it all. At that moment I realized that Katniss loved Gale, but I don't think Gale realized it. That's when it fully sunk in. Gale thought Katniss was truly in love with me. I sighed. I really loved seeing Gale jealous for once, and I really wanted to make Katniss love me instead, but if I truly love her don't I just want her to be happy? Don't I want her to have someone she deserves? Someone who has been there for her entire life. Someone who has watched out for her. Someone who has been a friend to her. Someone who hasn't been her stalker her entire life. I sighed again. I have to set things right. Gale won't make a move unless he is positive that Katniss has no feelings for me. I have to do the unthinkable; I have to talk to him.

When the day is finally over, and my family and I settle into our house in the victor's village, I hear laughter erupting from the house next door and I know that it isn't Haymitch, so it must be Katniss. I look out my window, and I see that Katniss, her mother, Prim, Hazelle, Rory, Vick, Posy, and Gale are all gathered around the Everdeen's table eating and laughing and crying at the same time. They are all just happy Katniss is back. They don't care about the money, the lavishes, the house, they could have been doing the exact same thing in their house in the seam, because their family is true, and the bond that Katniss and Gale share is one I can never break, I see this now, as I notice Gale's arm strung casually over Katniss's shoulders as they walk into the living room to have desserts. I see Hazelle and Mrs. Everdeen grinning and chuckling to each other as they watch Gale and Katniss sit on the loveseat. Prim giggles and says something that makes Katniss blush a deep scarlet color. I have a feeling it is something about her and Gale.

As I am watching this, I turn on the small radio in my room. When I turn it on a new song is just starting. I recognize it immediately; it is the song "Watching You Watch Him" by Eric Hutchinson. I laugh at how ironic that is. I've never really listened to the lyrics of this song. I always thought it was stupid and unrealistic. Who knew it would relate to me? I figure maybe I should listen to the words. Who knows, maybe it will help me.

_I love you _

_From the bottom of my heart _

_And that's not gonna' change _

_But things look grim _

_When I am watching you watch him_

Completely accurate to how I feel.

_I give you the best a man can hope to give _

_But I'm not feeling brave_

_Chances are slim_

_When I am watching you watch him_

Also completely accurate.

_Oh, what is left to learn_

_When he would let you crash and burn_

_He never gives attention_

_But you still yearn_

_Where do I fit in_

_When I am watching you watch him_

Not totally right, Gale would never let Katniss crash and burn and he gives Katniss as much attention as he possibly can. But she does yearn for him and I certainly don't fit in. And here I am watching you watch him.

_God only knows why I still wait around_

_Except I hate to see you cry_

_And I need you_

_But there are things I cannot do_

_And I want you_

_When he's playing all his games_

_And it gets hard to tell whose the victim_

_When I am watching you watch him_

I guess I don't really know why I wait around, but Katniss never really cries but I definitely need her. And I guess Gale kind of plays games. But as always, I am watching you watch him.

_Oh, what is left to learn_

_When he would let you crash and burn_

_He never gives attention_

_But you still yearn_

_Where do I fit in_

_When I am watching you watch him_

_God only knows why I still wait around_

_Except I hate to see you cry_

_And I need you _

_But there are things I cannot do_

_And I love you_

_Like a broken record plays_

_But I'm a window pane_

_A phantom limb_

_When I am watching you watch him_

_When I am watching you watch him_

_When I am watching you watch him_

I am watching her watch him

It's weird that I compared my life to a song that I always found very unrealistic, but I wasn't in this situation the last time I heard that it. I take one more glance into Katniss's house. I think about how I should be sad, but the thing is, I'm not. It makes me happy, to see Katniss happy. I can picture this exact same moment in twenty years, the only difference is, they will all be older, and I can see Katniss and Gale cradling a baby in their arms, wedding bands on their fingers, but the same joy will still be there, because they are perfect matches.

Thinking about this makes sleep come more easily, but it doesn't stop the nightmares that come later.

My nightmares that night are nothing I want to repeat, but I have a feeling they will be occurring regularly from now on. I get up early and eat some cheese buns and then head out immediately to find Gale. It's easy to spot him, in the crowds of people at school, he is much taller than most and is standing off alone—which is surprising considering girls are normally surrounding him. When I start to walk towards him he hears me immediately. His head snaps up even when I'm a good twenty feet away. He gets up and starts to walk towards me—much more quietly than I thought possible. When we finally meet, I say to him "Can we go somewhere to talk."

He nods and motions for me to follow. Gale leads me through the school doors and past all the classrooms into an area of the school I have never been. We pass by janitor doors and teacher's offices until we reach the last door which he opens and walks into. It appears to be an old office that no longer needed to be used. I follow him in and sit in one of the folding chairs in the corner of the room. I notice that Gale stays standing.

"What do you want?" He shouts.

"I need to talk to you about something very important." I say quietly.

Gale snorts. "Oh what could you possibly want to talk to me about?" he says with mock innocence.

"Katniss." I whisper.

"No really?" He says annoyance clear in his tone. "What about her? How you declared love for her on National television? How you made out with her in the Hunger Games? How she almost died multiple times because of you?" I winced when he said that one. "How you stalked her throughout your entire life? How you watched with envy through your window while I was with her last night? How you stole the girl I love?" He whispered the last part.

"Gale…" I didn't know how to start this. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to be hurt. I really do love Katniss, but…" I sighed. This is it."She doesn't love me. She loves you…"

Gale's POV

He sighed. "She doesn't love me." He takes a deep breath. "She loves you…"

Peeta trailed off. I couldn't believe what he just said. Was he an idiot? Katniss and I have known each other for years, and I have flirted with her plenty of times and I for one would know if the girl I have loved for 4 years loved me too!

That's when I realized Peeta was playing an awful trick on me, trying to get me to go for Katniss and be rejected for the first time and then have me be humiliated for the rest of my life. But I am NOT going to fall for it, so I make the obvious decision that any sane person would make in this situation, I punch him. Square in the nose. As hard as I can.

Peeta falls back immediately on impact. I start to walk out of the room, leaving the little twirp in the office by himself, but as I am opening the door, I am tackled and brought to the floor. At first I can't breathe, the impact on the ground knocked the wind out of me. I go to punch Peeta again, but he blocks my punch and hits me hard in the stomach. His punch _hurt. _Wow, I guess The Hunger Games made him _a lot _stronger. I mean I always knew he was strong, but I never knew he was that strong. As I get up and go in for another punch, he grabs my wrist and flings me to the ground. He puts his foot on top of me so I can't get up. "Look, Gale, I don't want to fight, I just want to talk to you." He takes his foot off of me and reaches his hand down to help me up.

"Alright, let's talk." Then I give him a hard blow in the gut. "That's for risking Katniss's life." Then I stand up and start to walk out.

"Gale, please wait! This isn't a trick, I really want to help you. I just want what is best for Katniss! Please just listen." Peeta pleads to me.

I sigh. I know I'm being unfair, but I'm hurt. When I saw Katniss kissing Peeta in the Games, it hurt me. I accidently punched a hole in one of the trees in the woods, I bent one of my mom's forks during dinner, I even broke one of Katniss and I's arrows—that was hard to explain to her—I was so upset and I didn't know how to cope without my best friend, without the one I loved, without my other half. I felt like when Katniss went into the games, she took half my heart with her. And when she kissed Peeta, my whole heart broke. I still don't know how to cope with the fact that I may have lost her forever. I turn around and walk back into the room and sit in one of the chairs scattered around the room. "Peeta….I know Katniss better than you, and if I had even the slightest idea that she loved me, I would have done something about it. I'm not the one she made out with. I'm not the one that she risked her life for;" I sighed. "I am her best friend, her hunting partner, nothing more."

"Gale, you're wrong. When we were in the cave, and she was unconscious, she said your name. Over and over again. Things like 'Gale, where are you?' And 'Gale, don't leave me'. Each time she said it, it was like a stab in the back."

I rolled my eyes. "I watched all of the cave scenes, and she didn't say anything when she was unconscious, she just laid there, _hurt." _I emphasized the last word because I couldn't stand the thought of Katniss being hurt.

"Gale, was there any audio during the time she was unconscious?" I stopped to think for a moment. And now that he mentioned it, I realized that there wasn't.

"Umm, not exactly."

"You see Gale. The Gamemakers heard her but with the star crossed lover thing going on, they couldn't afford to let the Capital people hear her say things like that. They couldn't let the Capital know that she loves you, not me. It's always been you. And she has always known it. She just wouldn't let herself see it." Peeta says. "Katniss is stubborn—as you probably already know—and if she doesn't want to love someone, she will make sure she doesn't. No matter how hard it is."

Even though I don't want to see the rational in his words, I do. It makes sense. The Hunger Games are the Capital's way of entertaining everyone, and the star crossed lover thing was _very _entertaining for the spoiled capital people. Plus, they had already announced that I was her cousin, and that would be weird if she were saying her cousin's name in her sleep. But no matter how rational Peeta's speech is, I still know that he is wrong. "Peeta, she may love me, but she loves you too. I know her better than anyone. I will be the first to admit that I knew she was just acting in love with you the whole time, but there was one time, one time where I could have sworn that she wasn't acting. That she really loved you. That's when I thought I had lost her." It hurt me to talk about this. Admitting that me, Gale Hawthorne may have lost the girl I love. But I can't let that get in the way, Peeta is being honest and it is only fair if I am too.

Peeta looks at me with shock registered on his face. He sighs. "Gale, maybe you are right. Maybe she does love me, but she loves you more. You have known her for years and have always been there for her. You two have a connection that I will never understand. Like when you two can understand exactly what the other is thinking without even saying a word." He sighed again. "I used to always get jealous whenever you two would have those silent conversations. I always felt like I was missing something. Like that is what everyone that is in love can do. When I first noticed these conversations, that's when I knew for sure that I would never have a chance." I start to object but Peeta holds his hand up as in a gesture for me to stop. "Gale, you and Katniss have been through the same things, loss of fathers, starvation, the struggle of keeping your family alive. You two know what the other has to go through every day just to stay alive. You two have done it together and will always do it together. You and her have experienced things together and been through things together that have brought you two that much closer, and those feelings can never be undone. No matter what feelings she has for me, they will never be as strong and long lasting as the ones she has for you. Her compass will always point to you. It might sometimes waver towards me, but it will always go back to you."

What Peeta says is ridiculous, I know this, but I am still going to try to get Katniss now that I know Peeta isn't going to try. I am so touched by what Peeta said, but for some reason I start to laugh. Peeta looks at me as if I have gone crazy. "Peeta, look at us. Most guys arguing about a girl that they both love will be saying stuff like 'she loves me more' or 'why would she like you' and we are sitting here explaining reasons why she likes the other more." After I say this, Peeta joins in and is laughing as well. We probably look like two mentally unstable people, but there is no one here to see this.

After we are able to control ourselves again, Peeta says. "I want you and Katniss to be together."

I freeze. "What? What do you mean? How can you even say that?" I ask.

"You make her happy." Peeta says without a second thought. "And that is all that matters." Even though I am going to do whatever it takes to win Katniss's heart, I know, deep down inside I know that what Peeta is planning to do is right. I think back to that one saying, "If you love something you will let it go." I can see that that is what Peeta is doing, but I'm not ready to test that theory. But, if the time comes, I will, I will let her go. Because otherwise Katniss would never know how much I truly love her, and I will do whatever it takes to show her.

**So I hope you all enjoyed this! I'm not really sure what people are going to think so please give me a review and tell me how I did! **

**-GaleLuver27**


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